Founded in 2014, Yacht Harbour has now gone through nearly 3 years of rapid growth, packed with milestones and interesting events. In this list are 11 things about Yacht Harbour that are not widely known, but we thought were interesting enough to share.
#1 Yacht Harbour started as an Instagram channel
Even though Yacht Harbour's initial plan was to build a web platform for a marketplace of yachts for sale, the company started an Instagram account in August 2014 to get some sort of traction, ahead of the launch of its website in December of that year.
At a time when no yachting media companies were on the platform, the strategy proved successful and saw Yacht Harbour get to 10,000 followers in under 4 months. This, in turn, proved instrumental to getting the first users to Yacht Harbour.
#2 We power instant results for a Top 5 search engine
Another little known fact about Yacht Harbour is that the company's index powers an instant result snippet for search engine, DuckDuckGo. One of the 5 available search settings on an iPhone, DuckDuckGo is a search engine built with privacy in mind.
Any user searching for a particular yacht on the platform, will see on top of search results an image of the yacht with it's main specifications, which DuckDuckGo displays using an API built by Yacht Harbour on top of its database for the search engine.
#3 News coverage was first meant as a content marketing play
Even though our audience is now spread evenly across its superyacht marketplace and its news section, Yacht Harbour's editorial coverage was started only in October 2015 to act as a content marketing vehicle for its search platform.
Despite these plans, news coverage rapidly evolved and grew to serve the purposes of a true media company, which Yacht Harbour has since become. Stories broken by our news department are now often used as sources by international media such as the BBC, CNBC and others.
#4 We built a chat bot to answer any yachting question
Developed in a wave of growing excitement over chat bots, Brook became the first chat bot in yachting that used a combination of machine learning, natural language recognition and big data to answer any question related to yacht.
Although Brook was since retired due to a lack of users, Yacht Harbour did manage to build a working version, answering over 80% of asked questions. Its original interface can still be seen here. When live it was even accessible from the Telegram messaging platform.
#5 Our content can be found on Forbes and Business Insider
As part of its content distribution strategy, Yacht Harbour struck deals with Business Insider to distribute part of its English-language content and to contribute stories to the French and Russian versions of Forbes.
With news stories around yachting and articles trying to open up the field to a more general audience, this content was read over 2 million times so far in 2017.
#6 We ran a crowdfunding campaign in our first year
Far from today's peak of attention around ICOs, Yacht Harbour ran a crowdfunding campaign in 2015 as an experiment, ahead of the launch of its charter marketplace to offer heavily discounted deals and lifetime advantages for participants.
Through the campaign, Yacht Harbour raised just under $3,000 from a series of contributors. The value of some the items offered then by Yacht Harbour has grown over 1,000x today.
#7 We get 10 million impressions of our content every month
Having rapidly grown from the 23 visitors Yacht Harbour on the day of it's launch, the company's combined channels now reach over 10 million impressions every month. This figure includes Yacht Harbour's website traffic, social media reach and audience on third-party platforms.
#8 There are sometimes easter eggs on Yacht Harbour
Sometimes overtaken by the holiday spirit, Yacht Harbour's homepage can sometimes change to adopt a special skin for limited times as seen above. So far, the company has dressed up its website for Halloween, Christmas and New Year's Eve but other events may soon be coming.
#9 One million minutes are spent watching Yacht Harbour's videos monthly
Playing an increasingly important role for any media company, videos have been a key to Yacht Harbour's success as well with over 800 days worth of videos being watched on our platform every month. The latest Black Pearl video alone reached over 3 million impressions on our network.
#10 Our Facebook page outranks its nearest competition 10 to 1
Owing much of its success to social media, Yacht Harbour has always tried to dominate the space in the superyacht sector and Facebook is currently the most reflective of this paradigm. Whereas Yacht Harbour gets 36,500 engagements on its page every week, the nearest competition currently sits at 3,300 engagements per week.
#11 It took us over 20,000 hours to build the Timeline platform
A major step forward in yacht search, Yacht Harbour's Timeline platform was launched in May 2017 after over 20,000 hours of research. The platform, compared to a Bloomberg terminal for yachting, lets its subscribers track the market in real time, discover the story behind any yacht and find the best deals on the market with big data.
Photos by Julien Hubert
Damen Yachting has confirmed the sale of the third hull of Amels 80. This Amels 80, with exterior design by Espen Oeino, will be customized with a number of spectacular unique features. The owner has appointed a well-known design team for the custom interiors and all details remain confidential.The latest 80-meter Amels Limited Editions design to be built under the name Project Zurich and is scheduled for delivery to her new owner in 2026. "It is almost a year to the date since we introduced the Amels 80. The fact that we have seen not only positive reactions to the design since the launch but also a strong sales foothold within the first 12 months are a true testament to her modern design and trusted build pedigree. I am very much looking forward to embarking on the build journey with this experienced client," says Jan van Hogerwou, Commercial Executive of Damen Yachting, who worked with the client throughout the sales process.Damen Yachting, a division within the Damen Shipyards Group, was created in 2019. The division combines the pedigree and heritage of Amels yachts with a growing portfolio of SeaXplorer yachts and Yacht Support vessels.Credits: Damen Yachting
March 31, 2023
Royal Huisman has shared the new images of the sailing yacht Sea Eagle II, which was launched in 2020. With over 45,000 nm under her keel, the 81m earned her place alongside the shipyard’s Athena in the elite club of the world’s 10 largest sailing yachts. Sea Eagle II was designed by Dykstra Naval Architects and Mark Whiteley Design. Her very long waterline and powerful Panamax rig ensure effortless, mile-eating performance. On her sail trials, she comfortably recorded 21.5 knots in a moderate breeze. Despite her massive sail area (2,580 sqm; 3552 sqm), all three mainsails can easily be hoisted at once – taking no more time than required for a sloop of half this size. The efficiency of this sail management system understates the technical challenges behind it, and a result of cooperation of an ‘A Team’ of Dykstra, Rondal, Carbo-Link and Doyle Sails. The inspiration behind Sea Eagle II was her visionary owner, who began to formulate his ideas while circumnavigating his first yacht, the 43m Sea Eagle I, also built by Royal Huisman (and now exploring the world again as Ravenger, under new ownership). The brief for Sea Eagle II was to create an extremely comfortable and spacious yacht with good sea keeping and exceptional amenities for both guests and crew. She had to offer outstanding passage-making performance so that the owner could take in as much of the world under sail as possible. She had to be a true sailor’s yacht – practical, powerful, safe and easily managed. Finally, she had to be functional, favoring simplicity and reliability over unnecessary frills.“Continual innovation, accumulated expertise and rigorous self-challenge have come together through our highly skilled and dedicated team to produce Athena, Sea Eagle II and, currently in-build, the world’s largest sloop, the 85 m New World Sloop aka Project 410. Other breath-taking concepts, APEX 850 and WING100, are also generating considerable interest worldwide. Each example just awaits a visionary individual who will desire the opportunity to transform a revolutionary, true sailing yacht into reality. The next Royal Huisman supersized sailing yacht would be welcomed into the ranks of the world’s top 10. She will join the existing Royal Huisman-built, thoroughbred ‘supersized sailing yachts’, and – with our continuous increase of expertise – she would be our finest yet,” says Jan Timmerman, Royal Huisman’s CEO. Royal Huisman is a Dutch shipyard established in 1884 in Ronduite, building and refitting custom luxury sailing and motor yachts at its shipyard in Vollenhove, the Netherlands.Credits: Tim McKenna/Royal Huisman
March 31, 2023
Northrop & Johnson has announced the appointment of Rebecca Cutter as Charter Manager. Rebecca, originally from England, brings over two decades of experience in the yachting industry to her new role. Rebecca will be based out of Northrop & Johnson’s Antibes office.Rebecca CutterRebecca stumbled upon the yachting industry in 1996 while living in Antibes, France. She is now responsible for managing and promoting the booking calendars for the Northrop & Johnson European Charter Fleet. Her primary responsibilities include liaising with fleet owners, captains, and retail charter brokers to provide exceptional yachting experiences to both new and existing clients.Northrop & Johnson’s Antibes officeRebecca spent 22 years with Bluewater, learning everything she knows about the industry, and is excited to embark on a new challenge with Northrop & Johnson's European team. Credits: Northrop & Johnson
March 31, 2023
The Italian Sea Group has delivered the first Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 in Sydney, Australia. The yacht, the first one finished in Acheso Gray, with its unmistakable super sporty silhouette, reached Port Jackson, one of the most renowned attractions in the city and located in the heart of Sydney Bay.The debut of this innovative motor yacht in the Australian continent, is an important milestone for the Group, in line with its business expansion plan in the Asia Pacific, agreed upon and supported by Automobili Lamborghini. TISG's strategy continues along with the growth of the Australian market, which, according to the Guardian, will reach 8% of the global yacht market within the next three years."We are very proud of the success Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 is having in the Pacific, an area that offers interesting growth opportunities for all the Group's brands, in line with our international development strategy," comments Giovanni Costantino, Founder & CEO of The Italian Sea Group. "The commercial success of this project and partnership with Automobili Lamborghini goes on, and the next sales will be delivered in the second half of 2024."Further deliveries of the Tecnomar For Lamborghini motor yacht are also planned in the Australian continent in 2023 and 2024.The Italian Sea Group’s Tecnomar brand produces and commercializes yachts in steel and aluminum up to 50 meters. Founded in 1987 and acquired by the Italian Sea Group in 2009, Tecnomar has launched 289 yachts through the years, also thanks to the Tecnomar Evo line, which has earned a great success in the Asian market. Credits: The Italian Sea Group
March 31, 2023
In the beginning of March Lürssen technically launched the 144-meter Project Cosmos in a construction site in Rendsburg. The construction started in 2020, making the 114-meter vessel one of the largest yachts currently in development. The megayacht features exterior and interior design by Australian designer Marc Newson. She spreads across four decks and has a large aft deck, a swimming pool, an observation lounge and helipad. She will be the first Lürssen yacht to feature fuel cell technology on board. Project Cosmos is scheduled for delivery in 2025.Lürssen is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Aumund. Founded in 1875, Lürssen is one of the world's leading builders of custom luxury superyachts and has launched many of the largest yachts in the global fleet.Credits: Video by OneHouseMedia/Lürssen YouTube
March 30, 2023